Irony
by Inkling39
Summary: "W-what are you doing here?." she nearly shrieked. Enjolras was unable to hold back a smirk. "Primarily to make your life hell." ... Eponine quits her job to stick it to her tyrant of an editor and to pursue her dream career, only to get a dose of karma at its worse. ExE
1. Chapter One: Eponine

I was originally thinking about this as a screen play... but Enjonine filled the parts perfectly so this was born...

* * *

Eponine could not help but let a smirk play on her lips as she walked through the streets like a woman on a mission. Her tall laced up boots clanked against the pavement like a drum beating out her own personal march.

Oh, today was a day long awaited and she was determined to have it play out like it did in her mind non-stop the last two years. She was on her way to work, but this would be the last day, for today was the day she would turn in her two weeks notice and resign at long last.

Due to her plowing, she made it to work at record time, but waited a whole extra minute just to walk in the slightest bit late. _He _hated that. She tapped her foot, watching her watch with her wicked smile, knowing he would be looking too, waiting to reprimand her as soon as she walked in.

The clock struck 9:01 and Eponine briskly waltzed into the building, making the doorbell chime, not even bothering to acknowledge her co-workers for fear they would sway her spirits.

"Morning 'Ponine!" she heard Marius say from his desk.

"Hey baby-cakes, you didn't text me all weekend." that was Grantire at the water fountain, definitely not drinking water.

"Morning." she allowed herself to quip, but kept walking. "Boss in the office?"

"I think he slept there." Joly replied jokingly.

Of course he was in his office, he was always in there. Eponine didn't even allow herself to pause before opening the door to her editor's office without knocking, something he also hated, and let herself in, closing it rather loudly behind herself.

_Don't chicken out now! _she thought quickly.

Gabriel Enjolras was reading the morning edition of their paper at his overly neat and organized desk, but Eponine could still see his shoulder's flinch at the slam of the door and could already tell she had successfully pissed him off thoroughly.

He lowered the paper and eyed the brunette with a scowl that was slightly deeper than his usual default scowl. Eponine just beamed at him in reply.

"Morning, Enjolras." she said cheerfully, waltzing up to his desk.

"Eponine." he greeted coldly. "You're inability to knock never ceases to amaze me, but I suppose I should just be happy you're only slightly off clock-in time today."

"I suppose you should, because I quit." she retorted, hardly holding back any bitterness.

That made him pause in surprise, making Eponine's smile broaden. To see the calm and always collected Gabriel Enjolras being derailed was the more satisfying than Eponine dreamed up.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" he asked, giving her his full attention, folding up his paper.

"You heard me, Enjolras," Eponine spoke up, ready to unleash two years of frustration. "I said: I. Quit!"

He frowned and leaned forward in his seat. "Oh really?"

"Yes really," she began. "And don't bother lecturing me about paperwork and getting a decent reference, I

already spoke to the Monsieur Lamarck and he wrote one up for me, I'll also be serving my two weeks upstairs under Combeferre, as to avoid any awkwardness in the workplace. "

"Ah, so you went over my head." Enjolras stated, quite recovered from his surprise and now quietly evaluating the situation.

"I wouldn't take it too badly," she told him, talking to him as if he were a child. "You've loathed my existence since I started here, I've never managed to meet your expectations at all, my leaving I'm sure will be more of a blessing to you."

"None-the-less," he said with an annoyed sigh. "You've still managed to cause me some problems; I'll have very limited time to find a replacement to a hard to manage job… though it's obvious you never took your work seriously… I would've appreciated at least a little heads up."

"I would perhaps be sorry about that, if the last two years working for you hadn't been a hell." she quipped back, mirroring his frown. "But, the truth is, I'm glad to cause you any inconvenience that I possibly can."

"How professional of you." he stated mildly, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh, I'm not done yet, I've been waiting a long time to say this and so help me I will; I want you to know that you are the most pompous, arrogant, spoiled rich boy I've ever had the misfortune to meet! I've wasted two years of my life trying to bend over backwards to please you and all you have ever done is belittle and treat me like I'm good for nothing." she told him. "Well guess what, I'm not worthless; I got the part from my audition which means I never get to see you're smug stupid face ever again! Ha!"

"Your audition?" he asked with genuine curiosity ignoring her verbal assaults. He was probably just trying to belittle her again.

"Yes, for the Madeleine Company." she must have spoken about it fifty times since auditions started, but of course Enjolras probably didn't even listen or care. "But that's not important, you…"

She paused when she noticed that he was smirking slightly.

"What?" she asked annoyed.

"Nothing…" he replied, recovering quickly. "…is your rant quite done?"

She huffed. "Yes, I suppose it is, I will now take my stuff upstairs and then I'll be gone on the eighth, bye."

"Bye, Eponine." he said as she slammed the door, unable to stop himself from chuckling.

Oh boy…

…

She felt like a new woman!

Opening the door to Enjolras' office she was met by the entire body of her fellow staff-mates gaping at her. Not one of these boys, not even Grantaire would ever dare speak to Enjolras like that.

"Eponine… are you for real?" Marius asked. "You got the part!?"

She tried not to flush at Marius' attention and praise, so she just nodded and giggled like a girl in middle school instead.

"Thaddagirl!" Grantaire slurred, picking Eponine up twirling her around the office.

Eponine laughed happily as the rest of her co-workers congratulated her, all clapping and asking questions.

"I can't believe you said that to Enjolras! I can't believe you just quit! What was his face like?" Jolly asked.

Eponine was place back down to earth by Grantaire and mimicked Enjolras' surprised face almost perfectly. She was a pretty decent impersonator and she had Enjolras' down perfectly from his posture to his voice, an act she often used to make the _A.B.C. Inquiry _staff laugh throughout the day.

The boys chuckled wholeheartedly, but stopped dead as Enjolras stepped out of his office with a coffee mug in hand for a refill.

"This isn't a social, get back at your desks." he ordered calmly, but rather sternly.

Everyone filed back to work professionally, except for Grantaire, who gave the editor-in-chief a drunk salute, making Enjolras roll his eyes.

"Jondrette, shouldn't you be emptying your desk?" Enjolras asked Eponine.

She smiled broadly, giving him a salute as well. "Yes, chief, yes I should."

Her little cubical was hardly a chore to clean. She had her 1945 type writer would be the hardest to move, but she would ask Marius to help her carry it upstairs. He was always such a gentleman. Other than that she only had her laptop three pencils and a few notebooks. Her articles were mostly in the field and she wasn't much of a desk worker like Grantaire and Joly.

Though she would miss the staff downstairs, she was excited to work upstairs to finish her articles. Muscihetta worked upstairs as a secretary and it would be nice to have a little female company. She would miss working so close to the Marius, the center of her attention for the last two years, but she would always see him at the cafe he worked at from 4-7 on the weekends.

Marius was just lovely, almost like a fairytale prince, he was tall lean with copper hair and the greenest green eyes in all the world. He was also came from a wealthy family, but was humble and kind and was trying to make his own way. He was an aspiring overseas journalist and wanted to travel the world. Most of the boys were just graduated and finishing up their last years in college or, like Combeferre and Enjolras, just starting graduate studies.

Eponine made it through two years in college working toward a Musical Theater Major, always wanting to pursue the stage, because of her love of acting, dancing and singing. However, that was before having to drop out due to failing a political science course and losing her scholarship.

Luckily, that was the same year she met Marius at the café' who got her a job at the _A.B.C Inquiry_, an independent and quite successful newspaper, focused on politics and the fall of society and trying to make a difference in the world. Down on her luck, and with no money, Eponine made the most of it, and was very active in trying to do good work. She was hired because of her destitute upbringing, and her inner connections with the poor of Paris. She wrote articles of the people struggling in the city, making their case known to society.

Quite an inspiring job, but not her dream; she still longed to work on the stage, and was always taking up auditions whenever she could. Unfortunately for two years, she never got any parts with any of the city's companies, and no matter how hard she worked, she was unable to please her editor.

Enjolras, for some unknown reason and despite hiring her himself, detested her since she started. She thought at first it was because he wasn't very personal, nor was he used to women, and though that was true, that proved not to be the case. Enjolras, though a natural jerk, seemed to always be twice as frustrated with her mistakes and passive aggressively managed to make her life miserable.

Even while she was cleaning out her desk, she had no idea why Enjolras hated her so much. It made her quite frustrated. Though not perfect, she was a hard worker, almost always on time, and she a great people person. She was funny, chatty, witty and helpful, all the other guys loved her, and she went out of her way so that Enjolras would like her.

When she first started she brought him coffee, asked if he needed anything, complimented him, tried talking to him, but her efforts were in vain; Enjolras just hated her.

Over time, she gave up her conquest and decided to loathe him just as much as he seemed to loathe her, he was often the butt of her jokes and the pinnacle of her emotional rants and tantrums.

_Well, at last we can be rid of each other. _She thought, trying not to dwell on the matter anymore, it had been a tiresome two years and she was going to put it all behind her.

With a flirtatious smile, she turned to Marius in the next cubical and lifted her heavy type writer. "Help a girl with some luggage?"

Marius smiled back in amusement, getting up from her seat. "Certainly."

…

The next day, Eponine took the stairs to the second floor. She peaked a her head in to say good morning to Marius, Grantaire and Joly, but was quick to avoid Enjolras by any means.

Sharing a office with Musichetta, she lay across the office sofa, typing on her laptop. Only two articles to go until freedom.

Musichetta, tall, thin, with chopped black hair, seemed bored with her typing. "Oh, I hate being a secretary even more, now that you are a starlet!"

Eponine smiled. Musichetta and she, though knowing each other previously because Musichetta was dating Joly, had hit it off like soul sisters.

"Hardly a starlet, I'm an extra." Eponine replied, typing away. "An extra in _Phantom of the Opera_! No one will be able to even see me."

"Yes, for now, but wait until you work you're way up!" Musichetta leaned back in her chair dramatically. "You'll be the prima-donna!"

"I doubt it," Eponine replied. "But, insignificant or not, its a dream come true."

"That's the spirit!" Musichetta exclaimed. "So, are you singing anything?"

"Mostly just ballet dancing, but I have a little chorus singing at the opening act." she replied.

"How much will you be making?"

"Not much more than I am here, but that doesn't matter to me, I don't need much." Eponine answered.

"I'm just so excited for you!" Musichetta sighed happily. "Joly and I will be there opening day, you be sure."

"Look out for Female Dancer #14 in the program." Eponine replied.

"Musichetta!" Combeferre called from the room next door. "Enough talking, I need those recites printed up."

"Aye! Aye!" Musichetta called, before muttering to Eponine. "You'll have to get used to Comberfur, he's a bit of a work horse."

"I'm sure he's nothing compared to Enjolras." Eponine grumbled sitting up, saving her draft.

"Oh, you mean Adonis down there?" Musichetta asked with a dreamy sigh. "Is he as bad as they say? Joly complains often, but I don't believe that someone so perfectly gorgous could be that hard to work for."

As much as Eponine hated to admit it, Enjolras was impossibly attractive, she noticed when she first met him. He was tall and lean in the most perfect way; and had a face that seemed to be chiseled by Michelangelo, framed by golden curls. In a word he was angelic; the kind of good looking one would stop and point at.

However, Eponine was soon to forget anything about his looks, as Enjolras' unapproachable personality erased any attraction she had for him.

"He's worse." Eponine replied. "He may be good looking, but he's a mental terrorist, passively bringing you down into a depression, you're lucky to have Combeferre as a boss, Enjolras' personality is so unattractive, you don't even want to sit and stare at him."

"Wow." Musichetta laughed. "Such fiery passion."

Eponine frowned. "Hateful passion, he literally ruined the last two years of my life."

Musichetta just rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're definitely meant for dramatics, darling… I take that he must have been a great motivator to get out of this hive of self-righteous idealists?"

"Chetta, I really need those recites sometime today!" Combeferre called, his voice still calm, but an edge there.

"Hold your horses, Doc!" Musichetta shouted back to him, gathering a pile of stapled white papers.

Eponine just smiled as she sent her draft to the printers. Only two more weeks.

…

There was a sloppy knock on his door, making Enjolras pause in his typing. "Come in."

Grantaire entered with a stack of paper in his arms, looking about as hung-over as one could get.

"Morning, chief!" he greeted, waltzing up to his desk and dropping the stack. "Here all the flyers I've printed for the rally next month."

"Two days later than I asked, but thanks." Enjolras replied, continuing his typing. He was literally swamped as he usually was on Friday evenings. He had four more articles to edit, three paper's due for his Grad School by Monday, a rally to plan next month and (not to mention) his much detested side project coming up.

"Hey, it takes time to print out the number you wanted, we've been low on ink and staples for a while too."

"Yes, I'm aware." Enjolras replied. "I'm sending Pontmercy out today to pick up supplies. As you know, I'm short staffed down here, and soon I will have a void in the editorial where I normally put Jondrette's articles and I have no idea where to start for a replacement for her."

"Yeah, you only had the four of us who could handle your management, I don't think God loves you enough to send in someone else… not someone who's a decent writer and attracts as many readers with the poor's sob stories like Eponine."

Enjolras felt his the vein in his temple throb. He could imagine Eponine living it up upstairs with nothing on the line, enjoying the last two weeks with only three articles to write. _Well, let her have her fun now. _

"Did you need anything else, Grantaire?" he asked, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Nope, I'll just stagger back to my desk chief."

…

Her last day, Eponine had already turned in her last article and was eating a bag of microwave popcorn, doing some proof reading for Musichetta who sat on Jehan's desk, listening to a poem he had written.

Combeferre was out on an errand, and the three of them were all that were upstairs. The radio was going, the windows were open, and there was only three more days when she would start rehearsal!

Things were really looking up at last!


	2. Chapter 2

Enjoy! Thanks for all the Reviews! Please keep it up... this story is different than my other ones so I want to know if it works :)

* * *

"So, how was your last day?" Marius asked, handing Eponine a foamy hot chocolate.

Eponine was broken out of her daze and smiled brightly at him, trying to remember what he had said. She had been too busy counting his freckles.

"Hmmm?" she asked, lifting her head from her hand, where it had been resting.

"You're such a space case, Ponine." Marius chuckled lightly. "I asked how was the last day at the ABC?"

_I love your laugh. _Eponine thought. _Who am I kidding? I love all of you._

She took her cocoa into her hands. "It was good, if rather boring. Muschetta and I ended up painting each other's nails."

"Sounds a lot more fun than slaving away downstairs, Enjolras…"

"Oh, please let's not talk about Enjolras, I'm having a good day." she said pleadingly, taking the opportunity to put her hand over his in a "friendly" gesture.

"Sorry, he's just been beastly since you quit, complaining and dissatisfied with everything." Marius said rubbing the back of his head tiredly. "All of us are about ready to quit and join the circus like you."

"He'll get over it as soon as he finds a replacement, don't worry." she said, ignoring any guilt she could possibly feel at her abrupt resignation. "He's just peeved that he's under staff."

"I hope so." Marius said tiredly. "He's my friend in real life, but in the office, he might as well be my drill sergeant."

_Enjolras in real life? Who knew? _Eponine thought in amazement.

"Enough about that though, no more _ABC_ or Enjolras for you. Are you excited about rehearsals tomorrow?"

"Excited and ready to throw up." she said, her face lighting up. "There are so many extras, I'm a little overwhelmed."

"Aw, Ponine you will do great." Marius cooed adorably. "We all can't wait to see you in it."

"If you can even find me." she said, leaning dramatically over the counter.

"Hey, every part important." he told her, but then shut his mouth abruptly.

Eponine raised an eyebrow at his stiffness as he gazed over her head. "Marius?"

Eponine turned her head around curiously to see Enjolras approaching in his red jacket from high school.

_Damn!_

Eponine thought she should escape, but as she eyed all the routes that led to freedom, she knew there was no way to leave without him noticing her. He would either take her as a coward, or call out to her and then she would have to speak to him. So she remained in her seat and groaned inwardly.

"What is he doing here?" she muttered to Marius, hiding her face in her hot chocolate.

Marius shrugged. "I don't know, he never comes in this time a day, maybe he has come to scold me for something."

The bell of the café rang and Marius smiled nervously, unsure if he was seeing his best friend or seeing his stern boss. Eponine however shrank in her seat and tried her best to imitate invisible.

She heard his steady strides walk up to the counter and tried to pull herself together.

"Hey, Enjolras." Marius greeted.

"Marius." Enjolras replied, coming up to the counter about a foot away from Eponine, he glanced her way and seemed moderately surprised to see her, but did not make any comment or reaction to indicate so. He turned back to Marius. "I need a coffee."

_Double, 2 sugars, 2 creams. _Eponine could not help but think mentally.

"A double please. Two sugars and two creams." he spoke her thoughts.

Eponine smirked a little beneath her foam cup.

"Sure." Marius said, glad he wasn't in trouble. He hurried away to fix his order.

Enjolras looked over at Eponine who was still hiding in her hot chocolate, despite it being all but gone. She had a small, mental freak-out, wondering what she should do and say, or if she stay quiet… she mentally slapped herself.

_What am I doing!? He's not my boss anymore. I have no obligation to be on good behavior. I can do whatever I want and say whatever I please, and there is nothing he can do about it! Ha!_

"Jondrette." he greeted, turning away from her.

"Enjolras." she replied back with the same tone, finally setting her foam mug on the counter. "How fair you?"

He rolled his eyes at her mimicking his tone of voice. "Fine."

He glanced back at her and tried to repress a small smirk.

"You have a little something…" he motioned to his upper lip and Eponine felt all color drain from her face.

She glanced at the window where she could see her reflection only to notice that she was sporting a chocolate mustache.

Mortified, but not allowing herself to show it, she grabbed a napkin and wiped it off. "Thanks."

He just smirked and shook his head, turning back to await Marius.

Eponine, humiliated began to hate him the longer he stood there.

_Arrogant, son of a bitch! Coming here at MY time of the day! Interrupting MY time with Marius! Being all smug and calm and collected like a…_

"Here you are." Marius placed Enjolras' coffee before him, taking Eponine out of her hateful thoughts. Marius went to ring him up.

"So, you usually don't come here this time of the day," Marius said. "Are you working late at the office?"

Enjolras shook his head. "I have a ton of things to do for tomorrow, I…"

He hesitated.

Eponine and Marius exchanged glances.

Enjolras just hesitated.

"I… uh… have homework, papers due, etc." he finished, grabbing his mug and handing Marius his credit card. "How is your article coming along?"

Marius winced a little, he'd thought he had dodged the bullet. He swiped the card before handing it back, trying not to sweat. "It will be ready by Wednesday, I swear."

Enjolras just sighed and looked skyward in his typical fashion. It was if he was silently saying: _I can't believe you have disappointed me yet again. _

Eponine was well accustomed to that look.

"I'm sorry, I know it was due Monday, but my grandfather has come to town and with graduation, this job, finals…"

Enjolras' face stayed passive to all his excuses as he took a sip of his coffee.

"…I've been a bit swamped." Marius offered, his voice cracking slightly in an adorable way.

Eponine pouted. Who could resist that!?

Well, Enjolras.

The blonde young man just sighed again, continuing to punish Marius with his silent disappointment, per usual.

"Trust me, Marius." he said, sounding rather tired. "You're not the only one who's swamped."

With that, he turned to leave with his coffee.

"He makes a late article seem like I just ran over his dog and burned all of his Robespierre biographies." muttered Marius as soon as Enjolras closed the door behind him.

Eponine giggled.

…

Eponine leaned her head against the bus window with a happy sigh. She was in her leotard, a jacket and sweatpants, her small purple duffle-bag occupying the space next to hers. It was far too early for her liking, and she was having a bad hair day that she was trying to hid in a ponytail, but that didn't matter. Today was the first day of rehearsals!

She felt her heart singing as she checked over her bag and mad sure she had everything. This was it! This was her dream.

She got out as the bus pulled to the corner and wandered a ways, a little skip in her step as she neared the rehearsal hall for the Theatre du Chatelet, where she would be spending a good deal of her time, the next few months.

Lots of other people were gradually entering around her. All different sorts of people: technicians, actors, costume designers, numerous peoples with clipboards. She began to see her type of people, other girls with duffels, hair up tight, wearing leotards, and slowly migrated toward them.

Inside there was tables categorized for each department of the production, Eponine was able to spot the sign she was categorized under and waited in line for a few minutes.

"Name?" a middle-aged woman asked, not even looking up at her.

"Jondrette, Eponine." she told her.

"You are in the hall down the left. There will be a small opening ceremony. Here is your map of the building, it has been circled red where there are lockers, bathrooms, costume and makeup and cafeteria. If you need anything call the number in the corner." she said, handing her a laminated map as well as an orange envelope.

Inside was her stage and theatre pass, an updated version of her schedule and several other things that she would most likely need to get around this place.

She found her way, tailing alongside a few other dancers. The hall was quite large, and it just kept filling up with more and more people. It was a spacious and dark studio on steroids. She spun around to get a good look, whistling to herself.

Bored after waiting a few minutes, Eponine began to put on her ballet shoes and started to do a few stretches while she waited. A few other girls were doing the same. The blonde next to her smiled.

"I'm Patty." she said.

"Eponine." Eponine replied back with a smile.

"I don't know about you, but I am about ready to pass out." she said. "This is my first year with the company."

Eponine nodded vigorously. "Me too, its so overwhelming the size of everything."

"You'll get used to it after a few days." a red head said, lacing her shoes. She looked up at them with emerald eyes. "I'm Kate."

"Hi," both Patty and Eponine said simultaneously.

"We're pretty low on the totem poll, so don't worry too much about it, there is lot's of time to get comfortable." she continued.

"Oh look!" Patty cried, pointing to a beautiful brunette coming into view. "That's Annette Vallet, she is our Christine!"

Eponine gasped and nearly jumped with excitement. She was quite an Annette admirer and to be working in the same room as her was quite an honor. She truly was walking in with all her graceful glory. She was the perfect Christine!

"I've idolized her since I was thirteen!" Eponine told her new found friends.

More and more people poured in until the hall was quite snug. Eponine ended up sitting on a mat Indian style on the floor.

A bell rang right on time to get everyone's attention and a tall, once handsome, man walked into the center of the room, wearing a white, button-down, shirt and dress pants.

"Welcome!" he called. "Welcome, everyone to the beginning of what I'm sure will be an amazing project, filled with endless and amazing experiences!"

Any chatter in the room was now silent.

"It does me good to see so many people gathered together to work on such an amazing musical and share in a love of theatre and art." he continued. "My name is Jean Valjean and I will be your director, I have over a hundred people working under me and with me, to make all of you who will be on stage comfortable and ready to perform this production like second nature."

He motioned to the room next door. "Our orchestra will be practicing next door so lets keep that in mind so we can respect their work as they respect ours. The walls our pretty soundproof, but sometimes we can push the limit when singing in here. Your packets you all should have, if you don't see me after, have everything you need to get around the building and sets, please don't hesitate to ask for help if you need any."

He paused a bit to get a good look around the room. "After this we have a little refreshments as a little welcome gift to all of you, then we will start introductions for each department, but I want to make a few introductions now."

He motioned to a lovely blonde girl with curls falling down her back, a cheery smile on her face. Eponine tilted her head at the girl. She could have sworn that she had seen her before, but she couldn't place where.

"This is my daughter/ Cosette." Valjean said, wrapping an arm around the girl. "She will be our understudy for Meg Giri, she has been my help and my support through all of pre-production."

He motioned to a tall and intimidating man who stood with his arms crossed at one of the exits. "Over there is our Head of Security, Javert. Please go to him if there are any emergencies of any nature."

"Our conductor, Henri Bishop is working with his musicians, but any of you who sing will join him in the recording studio upstairs at one point or another. And of course," Valjean turned to look for someone that Eponine could not see where she was sitting. "My Assistant Director who will be overseeing just about every department, my right hand, I expect you all to treat him as you would me."

Eponine stood to get a better look.

"Where is he?" Valjean asked looking at his crew behind him, before laughing. "Come on, get up here!"

An all to familiar figure begrudgingly came to stand beside Valjean. Eponine's eyes widened like saucers and couldn't contain a gasp as she identified the young man.

_No! You have to be f****** kidding me! _

Valjean patted the tall man with the golden curls on the shoulder. "Here he is, my nephew and Assistant Director, Gabriel Enjolras."

Enjolras forced a smile, but looked around as if looking for someone in particular. Eponine shifted uncomfortably as his eyes landed on her, making her close her gaping mouth into a sharp scowl.

He just gave her a small smirk before averting his attention elsewhere.

"Son of a bitch." Eponine muttered to herself.

* * *

Well, we all saw it coming. Now hi-jinks ensue!


	3. Chapter 3

I've returned! Thank you so much for reviews and your patience! Recently, life has been going on, leaving me quite short on time and inspiration. This story will be going under a few renovations (grammar corrections mostly), but I will be trying to update more often! Thank you, dear readers!

* * *

Rehearsals went by in a blur for Eponine. Her mind was too derailed by the fact that Enjolras was her assistant director. Her _f****** _assistant director! What? That made no sense! It did not compute! How? When? Why? What planet was she living on where Enjolras worked as a _FIRST_ for a production of _Phantom of the Freaking Opera_!? This was too much! This was as ironic as it came! This was at _RMS_ _Titanic_ standards of ironic!

"Third position, Miss Jondrette." her chorographer Molly called over to her.

Eponine blushed and fixed her position. Now she was making a fool of herself her first day here… Because of Enjolras! This wasn't fair! This was her first day of forever! This was her first day of living her dream! Her dreams did not include Enjolras! Enjolras was supposed to be shoved away as a bad memory, like the past two years! But now, he was her _ASSISTANT DIRECTOR!_

She wanted to scream and hit something! Preferably Enjolras! The smug, arrogant…_jerk _didn't even tell her! He didn't say a word! He let her go on in bliss thinking that she was headed to great things, that she would be rid of him forever. That…

She then began to get panicky. Just how powerful were assistant directors? Could he dismiss her!? Would he dismiss her? Would he do that for revenge!? Would he do that to get back at her for quitting abruptly!?

Eponine mentally screamed as she began to pirouette from one end of the mat to the next, following after Patty, trying to make up for her several missteps.

The music to the "Ballet of Act III", the scene when the Phantom hangs Buquet over dancing ballerinas came to a pause.

"Now remember girls, a man just drops down hanging from the ceiling, make sure you freak out!" Molly spoke up.

Eponine followed the act and screamed over the imaginary and dead Buquet, grabbing her imaginary prop and ran off the stage like the other girls.

"Well done, ladies!" Molly claimed happily, clapping her hands. "Make sure you're here Wednesday 9:00 a.m. sharp and we'll continue practicing this scene as well as the Masquerade ball, alright?"

Eponine sighed as she approached Molly, wiping the sweat from her brow. "I'm sorry about that."

Molly looked confused before waving a hand carelessly. "Oh, sweetie, everyone's a little flustered their first day, you did fine!"

Eponine sighed and went to her duffle. She would have to sign up for a locker as soon as she could in order not to carry her bag to and from the bus everyday.

Patty waltzed up next her. "What an amazing day!"

Eponine just nodded, still not quite with it.

"Everyone on this production just seems so nice! Annette even told me 'good morning'! Oh my God! Did you see that assistant director?" Patty asked giggling like she was ten-years-old. "Wasn't he gorgeous?"

Eponine felt her frown deepen. "If you like that sort of thing."

"If by that sort of thing, you mean a chiseled jaw and golden curls, then yes I say I do!"

Eponine just shrugged, but she began to notice that her entire troop seemed to be whispering and giggling about that same, certain, former, well not so former now, boss of hers.

Eponine huffed. "Listen, it was nice meeting you Patty, but I have to get going, I'll see you Wednesday, yeah?"

Patty smiled. "Yep! Of course!"

Eponine was quick to dart away. She was still grinding her teeth about the days events. She needed to go home! She needed to rethink her life! She needed to call Marius or Grantaire and ask them if she had gone insane.

However, before she could leave the building, she spotted the source of her misery taking notes at a table in the back of the hall as Valjean and his staff listened to the actors of Firman and Andre belt out "Notes".

Had there not been witnesses, Eponine knew she would have dropped her duffle, waltzed up to Enjolras and punched him in the face, right in the nose. But, witnesses there were, so instead she just settled for waltzing up to him. She wanted answers! She wanted them now!

Unaware of his approaching predator, Enjolras kept writing, running a hand through his mass of curls. Had she not hated him so much at that moment, Eponine would have found that motion extremely attractive.

He eventually sensed her presence and looked up. He didn't smirk at her like before, but she could see it hiding in the corner of his lips.

"Jondrette." he greeted, feigning indifference, and maybe slight innocence. "Good first day?"

She could not believe him! Her mouth fell open and she put her balled hands on her hips. How could he act so calm and indifferent!?

"W-what are you doing here?" she hissed out the stupid question. She knew why he was here, she wasn't an idiot, but her disbelief made her ask it.

Enjolras leaned back in his chair a little, rather smugly, knowing the roots of the question. "Well, obviously you heard that I'm First Assistant Director… but if you want to go a little deeper than that, I am now primarily here to make your life hell."

Her mouth fell even wider, if that was possible, as she recoiled a bit. "What is that supposed to mean!? How does someone like you… when did you… why didn't you…"

Enjolras waited expectantly for her to finish one of her questions, raising an eyebrow at her. Eponine was flustered and angry and seemed to lose the ability to use her voice.

"What I mean is just what I said." he replied to her only understandable question.

Eponine frowned, recovered from her inability to speak. "Oh what?" she scoffed. "Are you still sore about me quitting and now you're going to get back at me with your _assistant director _powers?"

He ignored her scoff and looked up thoughtfully before nodding. "Yep, that's pretty much it."

Again, she gaped at him. "Well, talk about juvenile!"

"Yes, I was inspired by your little resignation stunt." he shrugged uncaringly.

Eponine shook her head, gritting her teeth. "How can you even manage all this!? You're twenty-four, you're in Grad School, you're an editor to a newspaper, you organize rallies…How in the hell can you manage to have time to be here!?"

None of her rant was a compliment to his work ethic. She just was beginning to wonder if he was a supernatural being, Satan perhaps, because that would make a lot of sense.

"Yes, and I just had one of my staff quit too!" Enjolras added with mock realization. "My plate is pretty loaded."

Eponine just deepened her frown. She refused to, in anyway, feel guilty.

Enjolras shrugged again after a moment of heated staring. "Grad School is done for the summer next week, I'm going to have to limit my rallies to only two the next few months, and I'm going to be working nights at the newspaper."

"Why on earth are you even doing this?" Eponine asked incredulously. "Do you have a secret love for musical theater?"

"I'm repaying a debt to my uncle." he told her, turning back to his writing. "He needed my organization skills. I was dreading doing this all year long, but thanks to you, I have a whole new outlook on it."

Eponine again was stunned, but puffed up angrily. "Listen here, Enjolras, you might want to think twice about challenging me."

"Listen here, Jondrette, I don't even consider it a challenge." he replied indifferently, his focus completely on his paper.

Eponine bit her lip and struggled to keep her fists on her hips. She turned and stormed away before she would do something that would get her kicked out. She turned to give him one last glare when she got to the exit, but he wasn't looking at her. He was still focused on his writing, but his smirk, at last, had come out of hiding.

…

"_I don't believe you." _Grantaire told her at the other end of her purple phone, obviously drunk.

"It true!" Eponine said as she neared the café. "I went to rehearsals and Enjolras is the assistant director of the production! Do you think that I would make this up, R?! Really?"

"_Are you home?" _Grantaire asked_. "I'm concerned for your well-being." _

"No, I'm going to the café. I need sustenance! I need cocoa and a bagel!"

"… _and throwing Marius in the mix doesn't hurt."_ Grantaire cooed annoyingly.

"Shut up!" she yelled into the other end of the phone.

"_I'm at the bar a few blocks down, I'm coming to check up on you." _he said.

"No need." she replied wrathfully. "I'm fine."

"_Don't care." _he replied. _"Still coming." _

With that he clicked off and Eponine stomped on the mat in front of the café, drying her sneakers. She was sweaty and should of gone home to shower and sleep, but what was the point. She wanted to feel happy and Marius would do just the trick.

The bell rang and her freckled prince charming looked up at her, a smile growing on his face. "Ponine!"

She wanted to hurdle over the counter and hug him. Instead she did what she did everyday and smiled back. "Hey!"

"How're rehearsals!?" he asked excitedly, already making her hot chocolate.

This was the part she told them they were amazing! Challenging and fun! That she got to see a few of her childhood idols and that she made new friends and that she loved it!

"Don't ask." she groaned, collapsing in her usual seat at the counter.

"Aw no, what happened?" he asked.

No point in avoiding the inevitable. "Enjolras."

"What do you mean?" Marius asked, very confused.

"He's my assistant director." Eponine said. The words were still didn't sound quite right, despite her repeating them over and over in her head all day.

Marius sputtered a laugh. "I was being serious, Eponine."

Eponine looked up at him with no humor in her eyes.

Marius faltered. "Wait, you were joking, right? Enjolras has no time to be an Assistant Director, isn't that a busy job? What about the paper? Why didn't he tell anybody?"

Eponine just shrugged. "Can I _please _have that hot chocolate."

Marius set the foam mug in front of her, still bewildered.

"You know, he was talking about a project, one he would not tell any of us. It was just 'a project' perhaps he was… but it couldn't be! Its Enjolras!" Marius sputtered, more to himself than to Eponine.

Eponine sighed, feeling the soreness of her feet already start to kick in. "I also need a bagel, please."

Marius grabbed her a cinnamon-raison bagel, her favorite kind. "I'm so confused…Normal topping?"

She nodded, and watched as he smothered it in cream cheese without much thought. Why would he? She came everyday.

He placed it in front of her and she began to munch down on it heartily.

"I just can't believe it." Marius said, scratching his head in the most adorable way.

"He said something about doing it as a debt to repay his uncle… but Marius! Why Enjolras?! I just quit working for him, now I'm working for him again… well not technically working for _him, _but I have to do everything he says! I spent two miserable years doing that! I don't want to do it again! But, this is my dream job! I don't want to give up my dream job! And he's still mad at me for quitting and calling him out! Its not fair!"

She made sure she kept her voice down, but the other customers were starting to take notice of her whining, so she took another bite of her bagel.

"Is that an emotional breakdown I hear?!" she heard a new voice sing, accompanied by the bell of the café door.

It was Grantaire sauntering in, a bottle of booze in his hand.

"My poor little baby-cakes!" he patted the top of her head, as he reached the bar counter.

"I'm going to be forced to knee you in the groin." she told him through narrowed eyes, making Marius chuckle lightly.

"Did she tell you about Enjolras?" Marius asked Grantaire.

"I'm not going to believe it, unless I have proof." Grantaire said with a roll of his eyes, stumbling to his seat.

"If I start crying, will that be proof enough for you?" Eponine asked, rather dramatically.

Marius and Grantaire exchanged glances.

"Just keep the hot cocoas coming, Marius." Grantaire said, patting Eponine on the back.

…

The next morning, Enjolras was not surprised by the mix of looks he got from his staff. Whether it was shock or amusement on their faces, everyone had their eyes on him.

He just sighed as he looked back down at the latest addition of the paper in his hand, waiting for the first of the comments to come.

It was Grantaire, of course.

"What's this bullshit about you working with a bunch of ballerinas singing show-tunes in sparkly tutus?"

Enjolras couldn't help himself. "What do you mean? I've always worked here."

"Don't try to joke, chief." Grantaire replied. "It doesn't suite you."

"Is it true?" Joly asked, popping up from his cubical.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Marius piped in.

Enjolras looked skyward. He was surrounded by imbeciles. "Yes its true. I'm working under my uncle as an assistant director, I never said anything because none of you asked. However, this doesn't change any of your schedules or deadlines, so get back to work."

Their mouths were all still open, armed with more questions, but they all slumped back into their seats and the usual chorus of typing ensued once more. Enjolras then made his way to his office, shutting the door behind him.

Morons. They were all morons.

He got right to work and began to proof read the latest edition of the _Inquiry_, bent on finding even the slightest bit of any mistakes. He felt his frown deepen when he reached the article by Eponine Jondrette. It was the last one she had written and he still hadn't even begun looking for replacement columnist.

He'd probably have to commission someone to put in a political cartoon to buy some time and the only decent artist in his staff was Marius.

Enjolras groaned at the thought of Marius' politics being portrayed by deformed drawings. The boy was a borderline Marxist.

What was the world coming to?

* * *

Its funny how the cast just fills itself in this really odd AU. It is just so fun to write! More Enjolras and Eponine encounters next time!

Smiles1998: Thank you, first reviewer!

jdotess: It is an odd story, I am excited to see where it goes as well!

keepcalmandreadhp: Glad you like it! Love can often be mistaken for loathing, ironically! This story didn't have anything to do with Les Mis or Eponine and Enjolras, it was an idea for a screen play! I just started thinking that the cast of Les Mis fit it really interestingly! Keep reading!

All of the Guest readers: Thank you!

I Love You Roza: You guessed it! ;)

frustratedstudent: Darn it! Giry! I knew that! Thanks!

Oninja: You and me both!


	4. Chapter 4

Her second day, Eponine made a beeline to her troop, with very little dignity. She hid behind several unfinished props like she was the star of _Mission _

_Impossible _to avoid any confrontation with Enjolras. Not that she was _afraid _of Enjolras or anything. No, that was ridiculous. She just didn't want to let him have

the upper hand and strike when she least expected it. She wasn't going to let him ruin her new career of being a singing, dancing extraordinaire, by making

her look a fool! No!

"Eponine, more graceful in your arms, come on." Molly called to her, fanning herself with a paper Chinese fan. It was rather hot in their department, apparently

there was trouble with the air conditioning.

Eponine shook her head. She was supposed to be putting her focus into her dancing and here she was wasting her brain on Enjolras. What was he going to do anyway? Post-it her to death?

She almost laughed out loud and regained her poise as she continued to dance in the flawless motion she was known for, letting the music and rhythm take her away. It was a little too warm and she was starting to sweat, but it really didn't matter, she loved this dance and there was always cold shower to look forward to after. It was all going perfectly, up until the end, when she turned to Molly to see a new addition to their audience, a certain tall blonde one, with his arms crossed and unreadable expression on his face.

To her endless shame, Eponine was so startled she fell over her own twisting leg and fell, taking Kate with her.

The crash echoed throughout the room, making the other troops look over in surprise.

"Girls!" Molly called, shocked. "Are you alright!?"

"Yeah, just my spleen." Kate rasped as she and Eponine flailed around trying to get back up.

The other girls all gathered around to help lift them back to their feet.

"I'm _so _sorry!" Eponine said flushing, her own spleen and legs not feeling so great. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, its okay, it happens." Kate groaned in reply.

Eponine was grateful Kate wasn't the grudge type, but that was a disaster! She turned a hateful gaze toward Enjolras. who had his lips pursed, trying not to laugh.

Her face grew even redder with anger and humiliation, and it took everything in her power not to lunge at him and wring his neck.

"Let's take a break for lunch." Molly suggested, closing her book and turning down the stereo. "Other than that little mishap, you girls are looking great!"

Eponine turned back to Kate. "I really am sorry! I have aspirin in case I broke your spine."

Kate laughed. "Don't sweat it, I'm tougher than I look." She leaned in even closer so that only Eponine

could hear. "Hottie over there, caught me by surprise too."

Eponine flushed. He was _not _the reason she fell! Well, he was, but not the way Kate was thinking.

"Come on, Ep." Patty called, as the girls started to filter away. "Lunch is on me!"

"I'll meet you there." Eponine called her, bringing her duffle over her shoulder crossing her arms as she waited for Enjolras finish talking shop with Molly.

"First couple days bring on a lot of nerves." she heard Molly tell him, laughing a bit nervously. "But, they are all talented girls."

"They look fine, well aside from the ending of course, but I'm sure it was just a fluke." Enjolras replied, making Eponine grit her teeth. "You'll be having Annette down here for the next few sessions, just so you're prepared."

"Thanks," Molly replied, as she was handed a revised schedule. She herself took off for lunch then, leaving

Eponine alone with Enjolras.

With her hands clenched around the sling of her duffle, Eponine marched up to Enjolras who didn't look up from his clipboard till she was face to face with him.

"Can I help you?" he asked, with a raised brow.

"_Yes_, you can go a away and never come back!" she barked at him. "What are you doing here!?"

"Up until opening night, ever department needs to be evaluated for the Production Office. My uncle covers the main cast, orchestra, costumes, make up, photography, and I cover extras, chorography, stage crew, lighting, audio, props, and staff… I believe this is the dancing studio for extras in the Chorography Department, yes?"

Eponine huffed, crossing her arms.

"Don't worry, I'll give an you an adequate report today: 'Chorography Department: Ballet Extras: Grading, Fair. Side Note: Dancer number 14 may need to reevaluate how to dance without injuring another person'" he read what he was writing on the forms of the evaluation sheet.

Eponine didn't know if her frown could get any deeper as she imagined anyone in the Production Office reading that over.

"Bastard." she mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" he asked.

"It was your fault I fell!" she cried childishly, pointing an accusing finger into his solid chest.

"My fault?" he scoffed.

"Yes, your fault, you startled me!" she replied.

"I didn't know you were so intimidated by me."

"Oh." she said condescendingly, pulling her finger from his chest to wave in his face. "I am _not _intimidated by you."

"Then it wasn't my fault?"

"What?"

"If you're not intimidated by me, then I couldn't have startled you, hence it couldn't have been my fault you toppled over."

She growled in frustration. "Don't do your _word thing_!"

"My 'word thing'?" he asked slowly, with a raised brow.

"Yes, your word thing!" she exclaimed seriously.

"I didn't know I did a word thing."

"Its when you twist peoples words around and make them feel like idiots."

"So, you feel like an idiot, right now?" he asked.

"NO! Stop that!" she cried, exasperated. "You're doing it right now!"

"But, you said…"

"I know what I said!" she exclaimed. "And, you _know_ why I fell over."

"Because you literally tripped over your own feet?" he asked, holding back a chuckle.

"NO!" she argued. "Because you just appeared out of nowhere and were creepily…creeping on me!"

"Nice use of an adjective there." he droned. "Too bad you gave up a career in writing."

She let out a growl and reached for his neck with hands distorted into rigid claws, before pulling back and taking a deep breath through her nose. "You know what? I don't have to stand here and listen to this, I am a good dancer and…"

"I never said you weren't a good dancer." he stopped her abruptly.

She closed her mouth. Did he just indirectly give her a compliment. "What?"

He backtracked immediately and began scribbling on his clipboard.

"When you aren't toppling over and injuring your fellow dancers, you dance the same as any other superficial ballerina." he said with a shrug.

The little gleam of hope in Eponine's eyes darkened immediately as she snorted. "Well, thanks."

"I should be off, I have actual work to do." he told her. "See you around, Jondrette."

She put her hands on her hip, unconsciously jutting her hip to the side, the personification of sass. "I'd watch myself, Enjolras."

With that she sauntered away as best she could, realizing with dread she had may have just declared war.

…

"You're not going to let go of what happened in practice today, are you?" Patty asked, munching on a ham and cheese croissant.

"I will stop wallowing in the depths of my mortification." she replied, taking her sorrows out on her yogurt parfait.

"It really wasn't even that bad." Patty began to say, before she pointed across the dining area of the little café they had found across the street from the studio. "Oh, look its Kate and she has Cosette Madeleine with her."

Eponine turned around to see the red head and the gorgeous blonde receive their orders and look about the café for a place to sit.

"Hey Kate!" Patty called, waving them over. "Over here!"

The two women smiled in greeting and made their way over.

"Hey, beautiful ladies." Kate greeted. "I'm sure you know my girl, Cosette here."

"Not personally," Patty replied, reaching out her hand. "Hi, I am Patty."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Cosette replied, her voice soft and melodic.

She then turned to Eponine, who was trying to figure out why Cosette looked so familiar, that she almost forgot to introduce herself.

"I'm Eponine." she told her, reaching out to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you." Cosette repeated, looking over her thoughtfully. "Do I know you? Did you go to Ecole Elementary?"

That was it! Memories of a quiet, blonde girl who always kept to herself filled Eponine's mind.

"Yes!" she replied. "Mrs. Andres class?"

"That's right!" Cosette said, taking the seat in front of her. "I sat across from you, but I think you moved from the area the year after that."

"Oh, yeah, family matters." Eponine explained quickly, waving her hand. "My dad lost his job, so we had to uproot."

Not a total lie.

"Eponine Thénardier?"

"Jondrette, actually." Eponine replied firmly.

"Oh, funny how I got that wrong." Cosette said, shaking her head.

"It was a long time ago." Eponine shrugged it off, hoping no one would inquire more of the matter.

"Well, isn't it a small world." Patty said.

"I guess so." Kate agreed.

"And you know my cousin?" Cosette asked Eponine.

"Cousin?" Eponine repeated curiously.

"Yeah, Gabriel, I saw you talking to him in the Choreography Department."

Eponine felt her face pale. Her cousin. Enjolras?

It was always weird when people called him by his first name.

"Oh, was she?" Kate asked suggestively. "You know she almost squashed me because of him, today."

"Do you know him, Eponine?" Patty asked.

Eponine tried very hard to maintain composure. "Firstly, no Kate. Just no. And, I used to work with Enjolras, that's all."

"What kind of work?" Kate asked.

"Are you always so perverted?" Eponine asked her, making the other girls chuckle. "He was the editor at a paper I used to work at, we're not close or anything."

"Oh, I was just wondering." Cosette said sweetly, taking a sip of her mocha. "I know he can be kind work horse, I helped him out at one of his rallies."

"Well, none-the-less, he is gorgeous." Kate said. "It's a shame I'm engaged."

"I'm not!" Patty giggled.

"Okay, ew, my cousin, we're talking about my cousin!" Cosette protested, her nose scrunching up in disgust.

Eponine thanked Cosette silently, the last thing she wanted to be doing right now was having a girl talk about Enjolras.

…

Enjolras frowned as he saw Marius standing on the sidewalk outside of his apartment complex, a dumb grin on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, tired and not in the mood to entertain.

"You know what night it is." Marius said, following after him as he started walking up the steps.

"Oh, God, its Tuesday, isn't it?" Enjolras started walking faster.

"You haven't been for like three weeks in a row!" Marius cried grabbing his shoulder. "C'mon have a little fun with friends."

"I'm too busy to go out and watch you all get drunk and then pay a cab fare to get you home." Enjolras told him, pulling away. "I have papers to finish."

"Yeah, and let me guess; e-mails to send about the rally, columns to edit, job applications to type up, a few tests to study for… Just come out for one drink!"

Enjolras turned and glared at him, while Marius looked at him as if he were a puppy. A silent battle of wills going on.

Enjolras shook his head, too tired to argue, and knowing all he would get is drunk calls and texts as he did every Tuesday he didn't meet up in the bar.

"Fine, one."

…

Eponine's phone buzzed.

_drink with me! _It was a text from Grantaire.

She rolled her eyes. She forgot it was Tuesday, when all the _ABC _boys met up at their favorite bar for a couple rounds. It was usually a good time whenever she could make it. She looked in the mirror to see if she was decent enough to go out. Her hair was not all the way dry from the shower and she was wearing her moo moo sweater over a pair of leggings.

_I look ugly. :/ _She texted him back.

_Come make me look hotter. ;)_

_who's coming?_

_marius. _

Eponine's mouth was caught between a scowl and a grin.

_who else?_

_I didn't know anyone else mattered. _

_R!_

_just get your butt over here already! : (_

_is the spawn of Satan coming?_

_enjolras has missed the last few. don't think so. _

Eponine tilted her head back and forth in indecision. She did not want to run into Enjolras again after today, but at the same time she had gone a whole day without seeing Marius.

_okay, for a little bit. but apologize to the boys for making them see me ugly. :P_

She braided back her bangs and just let the rest curl naturally, and put on mascara. She always liked to look her best for Marius, but this was as good as she was going to get tonight. Grabbing her purse she made her way out to the sidewalk toward the pub.

She was about to cross the street when a familiar and beloved voice called out for her.

"Ponine!"

Eponine turned with a full smile on her face to greet Marius, only to have it falter when she saw Enjolras beside him, who looked skyward in what must have been disdain.

"Hey Marius!" she greeted. "…Enjolras."

"Jondrette." he said lowly.

"Are you coming tonight, too?" Marius asked when they reached her, giving her a quick friendly hug.

"Uh…" it was quite a conflict of emotions waging inside her. The reason she did want to go and the reason she didn't want to go, were both standing right next to her.

Her gaze slid to Enjolras who was looking at her with his passive mask.

Why did they have to have the same social circle!

_Its not too late to just turn back now. _she thought to herself.

But, when she looked back at Marius' warm, green, expectant eyes, she just couldn't refuse him.

"Yep."

"Great! You can walk with us, you really shouldn't be walking the streets alone at this hour."

Eponine shook her head. Marius often forgot the kind of life she used to have.

"As you can see I even persuaded Enjolras to join us." Marius said, nudging the taller young man.

"You are truly remarkable!" Eponine said, taking the opportunity to link her arm with Marius as they crossed the street, but didn't let go when they arrived on the other side safely.

"Are you cold, Ponine?" Marius asked.

"Huh?"

"You still are holding my arm." he laughed.

Eponine flushed, but it was too dark for him to see. "No, I've just been on dancing all day and my feet are tired, do you mind?"

"Not at all!" Marius replied cheerfully, patting her hand.

"Yes, you do seem to need help staying upright." she heard Enjolras say from the other side of her.

She shot him a heated glare, before turning back to Marius to continue her much more pleasant conversation with him.

* * *

My favorite thing about this chapter is Grantaire and Eponine text messaging back and forth.

Leave a comment!


	5. Chapter 5

Here's an update :)

* * *

"There's my girl!" Grantaire cried as Eponine, Marius and Enjolras entered the pub. He, as expected, was already buzzed. "And Enjolras too! Isn't this a surprise!"

Eponine gave him a warning glare before excepting the beer Joly handed her.

"There's our shining star!" he cried. "How we have missed you!"

"Hey there, where is Musichetta?" she asked

Joly put his hands on his hips. "Girl, you know its boys night!"

"So, why am I allowed to come, again?"

"You're one the guys, you know that!" Joly teased giving her a gentle punch to the arm.

"Shut up." she gave him a shove with a roll of her eyes.

The real rule was, no girlfriends, and she was defiantly nobody's girlfriend, despite her endless attempts to remedy that with Marius. She turned her head to see what had become of her walking companions and she wasn't surprised to see Enjolras drift toward Combeferre to talk about the paper, politics, God and the universe, not one drink in his hand, while Marius had found Courfeyrac and was already guzzling a light beer, probably laughing over what Courfeyrac had to say about his last girlfriend.

"Do I get no love?" Grantaire asked, still sitting on the stool, his arms out to her, pouting his bottom lip.

"I'll deal with _you _later." she hissed at him, her two fingers moving from her eyes directly to the drunk, before making her way to blend in Marius and Courfeyrac's conversation.

"Hey Courf." she said, in between one of their bursts of laughter. They were worse than a pair of girls.

"Hey, Ep! How's everything going?" Courfeyrac asked her, giving her a warm hug. "Got any hot ballerina friends to hook me up with?"

"I'll see what I can do." Eponine told him, patting his shoulder. "But, didn't you just break up with Lana a week ago?"

"A man must move on." Courfeyrac told her, "No time for wallowing."

"I don't think you've ever wallowed over anyone in your life." Eponine joked, taking a sip of the beer, only to wince at the taste of it. Joly must have given her a Guinness or something.

Courfeyrac shrugged. "Too many beautiful ladies out there to wallow over one, but enough about me, we all miss you at the paper."

Eponine laughed. "It's only been a few working days."

"All very dull working days." Marius told her with a smile. "Plus, we had a whole two weeks of you working upstairs."

Her heart leapt a little at that, and hid her smile while taking another sip. _HE MISSES ME! _

"Well, I always have nights off." she told them. "And summer is coming around, you'll be seeing me."

"Not the same," Courfeyrac sighed sadly, taking her beer from her. "Let me get you a drink you actually like, c'mon Marius, first round is on me."

Marius beamed. "Sounds good to me!"

They made their way up to the bar, and Eponine spared a glance back at Enjolras for some reason, he and

Combeferre were still talking, now with their arms crossed and obviously irritated over something. Probably due to the fact that all the leaders of the world were stupid and inapt, and the two of them would do a much better job.

While she was distracted, Grantaire had grabbed her around the middle and pulled her unto his lap and hugged her like he would a teddy bear. "Please forgive me!"

Eponine just grumbled.

"I didn't know!" he cried.

Eponine just crossed her arms, still refusing.

"Its Marius' fault, he picked him up."

"Fine." she said lowly, after a full minute of pouting. "Next time get your facts straight."

Grantaire hummed happily in victory, giving her a squeeze.

"Now, let me go you oaf." she exclaimed, squirming out of his arms to stand back beside Marius and Courfeyrac.

"I forgot." Courfeyrac said, handing Marius and Eponine a Jack and Coke. "How's it going, working with him at…"

"Don't. Ask." Eponine said holding up a hand in warning. "I'm two days in and ready to kill him."

"That bad?" Marius asked.

"Don't worry, sweetheart." Grantaire told her. "He's going to be so busy, he won't have any time to cross your path."

"I hope so." Eponine said, again looking over at Enjolras who, to her surprise, was looking her way as well. Both their eyes darted away, back to their respective conversations. "He is even more infuriating than he was at the paper."

…

Enjolras was ready to leave.

This was not his environment, he much preferred to be at home reading. He knew it was strange, and he knew he should enjoy himself as much as his friends did, because he was young and in his prime and apparently that meant that he was supposed to get drunk, sleep around and waste money.

However, that just failed to please him. He _did_ enjoy the company of his friends, as much as they annoyed him, but when it came to events such as this, the later it got, the more left out he was, because he was the only one who wasn't drunk. Sometimes, Combeferre would stay above water with him, but even the sensible medical student was usually ready to sing karaoke before the nights were over.

Well, one time, he and Eponine were the only ones sober, it was a couple months after she first started her job as a columnist. It was the only other time he could remember them being at the weekly pub gathering at the same time. She apparently didn't come often, and according to Marius, she never got drunk. She would have about two drinks and then be done for the evening. For someone who everyone thought was so _fun, _that seemed rather boring.

He glanced at her. She was still on her first drink, and was giggling at something Marius had said. Marius was pretty lit up, enough to put his arm around Eponine in a manner that was a tad more than friendly, making Eponine blush furiously.

Enjolras looked away. He may not have been well-versed in _that _sort of thing, but he knew well enough that if Marius liked Eponine as much as he seemed to, he would have asked her out by now. He had no reason not to, yet he never did.

Combeferre had abandoned him and was chuckling with Jehan and Feuilly. He noted that Bahorel and Lesgle weren't there, but since they were the only ones who were married, it made sense they weren't regulars on these outings. Bahorel was expecting a baby girl, last he heard.

He took another sip of the beer he was given, and his eyes drifted back to Eponine, definitely the most sobered one in her group, but having just as much fun as the boys, making them all laugh. He did note she kept checking up on her phone, though. Tired and not missed, Enjolras put on his jacket and left a tip before slipping out into the cool air of the streets.

He'd made sure to check with Combeferre that they had a designated driver, and that was Jehan's bad luck that evening.

Feeling like his head was clear at last, he started off toward his apartment, only to turn around a few feet later after hearing the door open. It was Eponine. She had her purse around her shoulder, shivering against the night air in just her loose sweater. She looked his way and he looked unabashedly back. They both knew she had early rehearsal tomorrow.

She lifted her nose in all her irritating stubbornness and took out her phone as if she was about to make a call.

He shook his head. Their apartments were in the same direction for a few blocks, she was buying time so he would get ahead of her. Apart of him wanted to stay put so she wouldn't walk home in the dark and cold by herself, but he knew she wouldn't go along with it, not for an instant, and he was not in the mood for another quarrel with her.

He continued on his way with a roll of his eyes.

_Stubborn. _

…

Eponine promised herself she wouldn't be star struck. She was going to act like a civilized human being and dance the way she always danced. When Annette Vallet came to rehearse with them, she was going to be calm and not tell her she had a DVR recording of every performance she had ever been in and watched them all every third Thursday of the month. But, then she saw Patty at the bus station and they both ended up squealing excitedly doing cartwheels all the way to the studio. They were doing their first dance, the ballet in the Hannibal Opera, and they would work with Annette for the next few sessions. Molly had them do a few runs threw the dance, before the diva herself arrived in a beret and adorable plaid jacket.

"Good morning, darling!" Molly greeted, giving her a kiss on both cheeks. "You look wonderful!"

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming!" Patty whispered to Eponine, who was trying very hard to remain natural.

"Thank you, it's the wonder of cardio." Annette told her, removing her jacket. "I'll just warm up and be

with you girls shortly."

"Take your time." Molly told her.

Kate shook her head at Patty and Eponine, who both silently squealed at each other as soon as Annette wasn't looking at them.

"Such newbies." she mumbled. "Don't look now, Eppy, but your boyfriend is headed this way."

Eponine felt all the blood drain from her face, knowing exactly who Kate meant. She turned to see Enjolras

approaching them, nothing but evil intent in his eyes.

"Hi, Molly." he greeted the choreographer.

"Morning," Molly greeted. "I'm sorry, we're just about to start."

"No, no that's okay." he told her. "I just have a photographer here that needs promo shots of the

_Masquerade_ number, I was wondering if I can borrow two ballerinas."

"Of course, whoever you want!" Molly told him. "We'll be going over this set all through next week

anyway."

Eponine eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. She wouldn't be able to dance with Annette until

Monday next week! She would miss out on meeting Annette like the other girls to be in photos where no

one knew who she was anyway because she would be wearing a mask! that asshole!

"Okay," he said, looking over the girls as if he was actually randomly selecting them. He picked a tall girl

with a pixie cut, who seemed too infatuated with him to care about missing out on working with Annette,

and glanced over the trope a few times just to rub salt in the wound before picking her. Eponine glared

daggers into him as soon as the trope was behind her, wanting nothing more than in that moment to give

him a black eye.

"Follow me, ladies." he said, leading the way with his almighty clip board.

"I'm Stella." the tall girl murmured to her. "How exciting that we'll be on one of the promos."

"Yeah, terrific." Eponine agreed through a strained smile.

A background was set up in the Photography Department and several extras were there wearing the whimsical costumes from the _Masquerade _number. Stella got an adorable peacock costume to wear that had blue and green sequins, and the only other one that was left was the costume with the rooster headpiece. Not mask, but headpiece, she would wear it over her head. She looked over at Enjolras conveying nothing but pure rage at him. But all he did in reply was give her a wink, which both shocked and angered her. She had never seen Enjolras wink in his life, she would thought him incapable of such an action, but he had!

"_I hate you." _She mouthed at him as they began to dress her in the humiliating rooster costume.

By the time the photo shoot was over, it was lunch, and it had been nothing but two long hours in a

headpiece that Eponine could neither see or breathe in. She could barely even hear the photographer's commands and cost them a couple shots.

When she was extracted from the costume, Enjolras was gone on other duties. She growled under her breath. That was it. He was going down.

…

"You haven't touched a bit of your wrap, what's wrong?" Patty asked. They were both sitting in the park with Kate, during their lunch break.

"I just spent all morning in a glorified chicken suit, missing a chance to dance with Annette Vallet!" Eponine exclaimed.

"Aren't you excited you get to be in a promo?" asked Patty. "It just might be on a billboard."

"Yes, then I can point it out to my friends that I am the one in the giant chicken costume!" Eponine moaned. "And its all Enjolras' fault."

"Enjolras?" Patty asked.

"He hates me." Eponine told her. "Always has, just now he has had a vendetta against me ever since I left his stupid, political, "everything sucks" newspaper."

"And here I thought he picked you because of he had a thing for you." Kate laughed.

Eponine felt the hairs on the back of her neck stick up. "A _thing _for me?"

"Like how he doesn't talk, well aside from shop, with anyone else but you."

"That's because he hates me and wants to tell me so." Eponine whined. "No matter how hard I tried to get him to like me when he was my boss, he made my life miserable, and now two years and a different job later he still is… He is driving me crazy!"

"Then get him back." Kate replied with a shrug.

"Huh?" Eponine asked her.

"Get him back, he has a strike against you, even out the playing field."

"You make that sound so easy." Eponine rolled her eyes.

"Because it is, you said you worked for him for two years, yeah?" Kate asked. "Don't you know his upsets and pet peeves? I mean you must know what really drives him nuts."

Eponine's lips began to curl into an evil smile at that realization. Yes, she knew those things better than anyone…and suddenly she had a perfect idea.

…

Eponine's first idea was small and relatively harmless, but still she knew Enjolras couldn't take it with his OCD. She was amazed that he actually set clipboard down, but he did to have a coffee with the Stage Manager.

She was quick to snatch it and locked herself if the ladies' room for her own safety. She shook her head at the sight of how orderly it was. Every sheet of paperwork was tabbed for each department, all of course in alphabetical order. He had a red pen for notes and a black pen for filling out paperwork… he even had a to do list of post-its attached in the corner.

Grinning like a mad woman, she started with the post-its, peeling away the ones with his lists and replacing them with to-do lists of her own. "To do: pet a kitten, play hopscotch, stop being a douche bag…". Next she started rearranging all his paperwork into different tabs, ruining his whole orderly system. And finally, she took his red pen and stuck in her purse.

Content, she returned it to where Enjolras had left it, before stealthily making her escape.

…

Just about to leave for home, Eponine saw Enjolras march toward her with his fists clenched and a vein popping from his forehead. She had to remind herself she wasn't intimidated by Enjolras and just began to casually chug her water bottle.

When he stood before her with his arms crossed, she glanced up at him and conjured all the sass she could muster.

"Can I help you?" she asked with a coy smile.

"That wasn't smart." he said lowly.

"Hmm…" she hummed thoughtfully, looking upward before giving his shoulder a pat. "I guess this means its your move."

Surprising him and herself with her boldness, she followed through and walked away with an attitude of victory…

However, she was screaming eternally about what he might do next.

* * *

This means war...


End file.
